The Presidio Raptor Cam Returns: Nesting Red-tailed Hawks Hatch Two Chicks!

Tune in to the Presidio Raptor Cam to follow the progress of two newly hatched red-tailed hawk nestlings.

Presidio of San Francisco

April 2022 - In 2018, the Presidio of San Francisco’s live “Hawk Cam” was established above a nest located 100 feet up in one of the blue gum eucalyptus trees near the Main Post. Over a few seasons, it’s given all of us an up-close and personal look at nesting raptors in the park—and it’s back. The same breeding resident pair of hawks have returned to their nest four years later – and two chicks hatched starting on Easter weekend!

The 2019 season saw a brutal take-over of the nest by a pair of great horned owls as is typical of great horned owls who don’t build their own nests but rather use those of other raptors. This prompted a renaming of the cam to “Raptor Cam” and another thrilling watch season. While they laid eggs in the nest, they were lost due to a heavy storm, and we were not able to see a hatching. There were no nest occupants in 2020 or 2021, which is why it’s exciting to see it in use once again.

Learn more and tune in to the live Raptor Cam from the Presidio’s recent blog post. Viewers should be able to watch the nestlings grow until about early June. Then, at around 45 days old they will begin to fledge (leave the nest).

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